For anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock for the past 7 days, Sapir Berman, an Israeli referee of absolutely no note has decided to embrace his autogynephilia and impersonate a woman full time whilst refereeing football matches. What came next was a misogyny-fuelled, fetish-driven celebration of “her authenticity” ( in pretending to be something he isn’t ).
The sexual objectification of women is on full display in every press conference and in every article covering this ludicrousness.
Berman explains how he always felt jealous of the female sex and has now decided to embrace that by wearing nail polish and make-up to referee soccer matches. How womanly. How progressive.
What isn’t being told here, is how deeply erotic this is for Berman- and how women are being lulled into complacency about what this fetish really means. Autogynephilia is the total objectification of females at the expense of fetishistic males. When they impersonate women, speak as women, speak for women and display what is clearly a masturbatory fantasy for the world to see- women are dehumanized.
This fetish has implications in everyday reality, when we allow males to take their porn-fuelled obsessions into the public sphere, whilst congratulating them on being better women, we solidify the idea that a woman is a costume that can be appropriated with a bad blow-dry and some press-on nails.
We are living in a porn obsessed society and a pornified culture- and males like Sapir Berman are symptomatic of that culture that dehumanizes women- enforcing the stereotypes that render us holes and objects, and reminding us once again "a la Bruce Jenner" that the best women really are men.
Berman is being hailed as a hero, a “superwoman” because he has decided ( after 26 years as a successful man ) to take his secret female fantasy and become a full-time female impersonater, whilst still enjoying every inch of the privilege he had as a male at the top of his career. In what capacity is that brave? How is this good for women? The simple answer: it is not. Sapir Berman has done less than nothing for women.
I would like to say to men like Sapir that many women don’t consent to be a part of your fetishes and that we see who you for who you are and what you are doing. This PR exercise has shown us nothing but three things- narcissism, entitlement, and misogyny.
Womanhood and femininity are not there to fix mens' dysphoria or fuel their sexual perversions- nor do we have to stand for it.